Intertek Opens a Footwear Center of Excellence in Bentonville

29 Oct 2025

A Key Milestone in Intertek’s Legacy in Innovation, Partnership, and Excellence in Quality Assurance

Bentonville, AR: Intertek, a leading Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide, proudly announces the grand opening of its state-of-the-art Bentonville Footwear Center of Excellence, located in Bentonville, Arkansas, home to Walmart and the heart of retail innovation.

True to the pioneering vision of Raymond Kong, who sought to set new standards for quality assurance, this world-class facility reflects Intertek’s enduring commitment to innovation, partnership, and excellence throughout the global textile industry. Adding to our twenty-three consumer products sites in the US, the new facility, located in the historic heartland of retail innovation will reinforce the long-standing partnership between Intertek and its customers, serving as a local hub to support their global operations with precision, pace, and passion. In particular, the lab’s suite of advanced footwear testing capabilities will bring quality assurance closer to US operations, improving efficiency, reducing lead times, and ensuring quality, safety, and sustainability across every stage of the product lifecycle.

The grand opening event brought together Intertek leadership and industry stakeholders, including Michael McCranie, representing the City of Bentonville, who shared a letter of congratulations from Mayor Stephanie Orman, and Brandom Gengelbach, President and CEO of the Bentonville Chamber of Commerce, to celebrate this significant milestone in the evolution of quality assurance.

The ceremony featured celebrations from Intertek’s Softlines laboratories around the world. During the event, Sandeep Das, CEO of Greater China and President of Global Softlines and Hardlines, addressed the attendees: “Intertek has always been a pioneer in innovation, and this facility is equipped with the latest machines connected to our digital laboratory information management system. This seamless integration of data further strengthens Intertek’s critical role in collaboration with retailers and the global footwear ecosystem.”

The Bentonville Footwear Center of Excellence is a symbol of Intertek’s commitment to shaping the future of quality assurance and empowering our customers to thrive in a fast-evolving global marketplace through breakthrough innovations, supported by our world-class solutions, including InterLink 2.0 for seamless eFiling, ToxClear for Total Chemical Management, and our unique High-Performance Mark for Footwear.  

For Media Information:

Please contact:

Shelly Lo
Senior Director, Marketing and Innovation, Global Softlines and Hardlines
shelly.lo@intertek.com

Amanda Horn
amanda_t_horn@outlook.com
+1 775 636 2567

About Intertek

Intertek is a leading Total Quality Assurance provider to industries worldwide.

Our network of more than 1,000 laboratories and offices in more than 100 countries, delivers innovative and bespoke Assurance, Testing, Inspection and Certification solutions for our customers' operations and supply chains.

Intertek is a purpose-led company to Bring Quality, Safety and Sustainability to Life. We provide 24/7 mission-critical quality assurance solutions to our clients to ensure that they can operate with well-functioning supply chains in each of their operations.

Our Customer Promise is: Intertek Total Quality Assurance expertise, delivered consistently, with precision, pace and passion, enabling our customers to power ahead safely.

intertek.com